Liberal stances mark political career

When Gov. Neil Abercrombie appointed Brian Schatz in December 2012 to replace the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, the rationale was that Schatz was the best choice for Hawaii’s political future.

As a young man, Schatz — Abercrombie’s lieutenant governor — could potentially rebuild the seniority that unlocks power in the Senate and regain the experience that was lost with Inouye’s death.

But as Schatz campaigns against U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa in the Democratic primary to fill out the remaining two years of Inouye’s six-year term, the senator asserts that he is already producing results after 18 months.

"I’ve been effective in getting things done for Hawaii," said Schatz, 41. "I’ve built the relationships in the Senate among my colleagues, and as a result, I am the chairman of the tourism committee and the water and power committee, and that puts me in a unique position to help Hawaii in two of our priority areas.

"I’ve also been effective in the appropriations process, which is so critical to the state of Hawaii, and my votes and the legislation that I’ve authored reflect Hawaii’s priorities in the Senate."

Inouye had preferred that Hanabusa succeed him, and the primary has exposed generational, ideological and ethnic divisions among Democrats unsure about the party’s compass now that there is no dominant figure at the top.

Hanabusa, 63, describes herself as the more experienced legislator with the insight and negotiating skills to have an immediate influence. Seniority, while still important, may be less of a factor in a changing Senate that no longer holds on as tightly to its traditions.

But the congresswoman has to disrupt two of Hawaii’s political patterns: No incumbent U.S. senator — appointed or elected — has lost an election since statehood; and the more liberal Democrat has prevailed in primaries for statewide office over the past decade.

"This isn’t really about me and individual accomplishments," Schatz said. "This is about what Hawaii needs, and that’s my continuing focus. You know, politicians have a way of wanting to make campaigns about themselves or about the person they’re running against.

"And my singular focus is what Hawaii families actually need."

FAMILY VIEWPOINT SEEN AS A POSITIVE

Randy Perreira, executive director of the Hawaii Government Employees Association, the state’s largest public-sector labor union, said Schatz, the father of two young children, knows the challenges many families have in raising kids, worrying about how to pay for their children’s college education, and balancing work with the expectations of parenthood.

As the former chief executive officer of Helping Hands Hawaii, a nonprofit that works with the needy, Schatz, Perreira says, gained experience in social services that makes him a more well-rounded legislator.

"Brian has certainly demonstrated an ability to understand and empathize with issues that resonate with everyday middle-class working people," said Perreira, whose union has endorsed the senator.

While Perreira said Democrats have two positive choices in Schatz and Hanabusa, who was an accomplished labor attorney before she entered politics in 1998 — the same year as Schatz — he views it as a misconception that Hana­busa would be a better U.S. senator solely because she rose higher than Schatz did in the state Legislature.

Schatz’s highest post was chairman of the House Economic Development and Business Concerns Committee. Hanabusa served as chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee and as Senate majority leader and was the first woman in state history chosen to lead a chamber of the Legislature as Senate president. The political dynamics of the House and Senate are different, however, and Hanabusa served in the Legislature four years longer than Schatz.

"I don’t believe that there’s any such experience gap," Perreira said.

FIRST LOCAL ELECTION WON AT AGE 26

Former colleagues, aides and friends describe Schatz as sharp, direct and ambitious, a strategic thinker who consistently places himself in a position to succeed. His weakness, people who know him say, is a tendency to move too quickly past detail and get ahead of himself in pursuit of a goal.

Elected at 26 to represent a Makiki state House district, Schatz was part of a faction of youthful, mostly progressive Democrats impatient to lead the chamber. He was an advocate for the environment and technology, and he helped shape the state’s Legacy Lands Act to finance land conservation and tighten the rules on high-tech tax credits that many thought were too generous.

Young lawmakers often have to wait their turn in the hierarchy of the 51-member House, so Schatz had limited opportunities.

Many political analysts thought Schatz was only trying to build name recognition for the future when he ran for an open seat in Congress in 2006. Even then, however, he spoke of how Hawaii sent Patsy Mink and Daniel Inouye to Washington, D.C., when they were in their 30s and he stressed the importance of electing someone with the potential to serve for decades.

Schatz finished a distant sixth behind Mazie Hirono, now his counterpart in the U.S. Senate. Hanabusa was a close second.

Shortly after his loss, Schatz would re-emerge in politics with a local campaign to draft Hawaii-born U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois — a fellow Punahou graduate — for president in 2008. The move was a calculated risk, as Inouye — and Hanabusa — backed U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, but it proved to be the popular choice among island Democrats and helped propel Schatz to the chairmanship of the Democratic Party of Hawaii.

Schatz used the statewide platform as party chairman to help build the contacts and name recognition that would pay off when he ran for lieutenant governor in 2010. The young Democrat claimed 34.8 percent of the vote in a crowded primary, overwhelming several more experienced contenders, including former state Senate President Robert Bunda.

As Abercrombie’s No. 2, Schatz took a lead on the fair share initiative — an effort to ensure that Hawaii received the maximum amount of federal money available — helped the state prepare to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, and was the administration’s policy voice on clean energy.

Like many lieutenant governors, though, he worked mostly in the background.

After Inouye died at 88 due to a respiratory illness, many political observers — in Hawaii and across the nation — presumed Abercrombie would appoint Hanabusa to replace the senator. Ino­uye had made it explicit in the years before his death that he wanted Hanabusa to succeed him, and, in case the message was forgotten, he issued a letter expressing his preference that was hand-delivered to Abercrombie by retired banker Walter Dods and retired attorney Jeffrey Watanabe in the hour before the senator died.

But Abercrombie had privately been leaning toward Schatz. In the hours and days after Inouye’s death, Schatz spread word in political circles that he was interested in the appointment. By the time Democrats recommended Schatz, Hana­busa and longtime congressional and state aide Esther Kiaaina to Abercrombie a week after Inouye’s death, Schatz had the inside track.

Abercrombie has explained his selection as a foundation for Hawaii’s political future, since Schatz, because of his age, has the potential to accumulate Senate seniority over a generation. But the governor’s decision caused deep wounds among many of Inouye’s loyalists and added a layer of emotional drama to what was always likely to be an internecine war to replace the Hawaii icon.

SCORING POINTS FOR LIBERAL STANCES

Schatz’s swearing-in in late December 2012 — after catching a ride to Washington on Air Force One with Obama, who had been vacationing in Hawaii — gave the appointed senator an edge in seniority over the new class that took office in January 2013, including Hirono. Schatz is ranked 84th out of 100 senators in seniority. Hirono is 90th.

While it is difficult to form conclusions about Schatz’s performance as a freshman in the Senate majority after just 18 months, and even more complicated to look for contrasts with Hana­busa, who has served in the minority in the U.S. House since 2011, there are some revealing indicators.

In his first year in office, according to the National Journal, which covers politics and government in Washington, Schatz tied with U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., as the most liberal in the Senate. Hirono was ranked fourth. Hanabusa, who has aligned herself with the centrist New Democrat Coalition, was ranked the 126th most liberal in the House during the same year.

Schatz has been eager to take policy stands on issues such as expanding Social Security benefits and aggressively responding to climate change, endearing him to progressives nationally, although his positions are largely symbolic since no specific legislation has advanced.

More critical to Hawaii, Schatz and the state’s congressional delegation have sought to prevent the drop-off in federal money that was feared with Inouye’s death and U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka’s retirement.

While the delegation has worked with the Obama administration on big-ticket items such as the Honolulu rail project, Schatz and Hiro­no, as part of the Senate majority, have been able to secure money for Native Hawaiian health care, education and housing projects left out by the House.

Schatz has also fought for federal money for the East-West Center, the nonprofit that promotes diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific region, proudly drawing the same wrath from conservative Republicans and Citizens Against Government Waste about pork-barrel spending as Inouye once did.

In a coup for a freshman, Schatz leads two subcommittees: the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s subcommittee on water and power; and the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee’s subcommittee on tourism, competitiveness and innovation.

"I think I’ve been more effective in the Congress," Schatz said. "The most relevant comparison is how we’ve done over the last couple of years in terms of representing Hawaii’s priorities and in terms of getting things done for Hawaii.

"And my record of effectiveness in the appropriations process and the relationship-building side of politics, as well as making sure that my votes and my legislation reflect Hawaii values, is what differentiates me from Colleen."

Given Inouye’s long shadow in the Senate, some political observers thought at least a few Senate veterans might endorse Hana­busa out of loyalty to their old friend. But Senate leadership, including U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, quickly embraced their junior colleague.

Equally important, since gender could be a factor in the primary against Hana­busa, is the support from progressive women such as U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

"Respect is important, and we respect Brian," said U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., who, as majority whip, is the second-ranking Senate Democrat. "He is new to the job and new to the Senate, but he really rolls up his sleeves and tackles his assignments."

Outside the Senate, Schatz has won important endorsements from Obama, former Vice President Al Gore, and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"The biggest problem that any new senator would face is the legacy of Danny Ino­uye, a legendary man who served our nation in extraordinary ways and was just universally loved, and I was one of those people," Durbin said.

"And he, at this point, is working to prove that he can start to begin to build the kind of Senate representation that will carry on in Danny’s memory."

2-1 CASH ADVANTAGE OVER CHALLENGER

Despite the drama surrounding Schatz’s appointment and the news media attention he received as the new senator, 25 percent of voters interviewed in a Hawaii Poll in February said they did not know enough about him to form an opinion.

Schatz has used his fundraising advantage — he has out-raised Hanabusa 2 to 1 — on television advertisements over the past few months intended to brand him among voters.

The ads appear on the surface to be about core Democratic issues such as Social Security, equal pay for women, gun control, clean energy and college affordability, but also cleverly blend in Schatz’s in-laws, his wife and his children, showing the kind of multiracial, multigenerational family that looks familiar to island voters.

The spots on equal pay and gun control, in particular, are also aimed at women, since an unspoken theme of the Hanabusa campaign is the contrast between an older, more experienced woman and a younger, less accomplished man.

The Hanabusa campaign has also made certain voters know that Hawaii’s past two senators — Inouye and Akaka — believe the congresswoman is the superior choice. So far, Hanabusa’s allies say dismissively, Schatz has only earned a single vote: Gov. Abercrombie.

"We’re going to earn the support of the voters day by day. What matters the most here is what voters think," Schatz said. "I’m happy and honored to have President Obama’s endorsement and the support of the leadership of the United States Senate. But when it comes down to it, it’s not about who endorses you. It’s not about who’s for you, it’s about who you’re for.

"And I’m for Hawaii families that are trying to be successful and need a United States senator that’s thinking about them."